Thomas Archer Bata: My childhood holidays were to shoe factories

Thomas Archer Bata is in charge of global marketing for the Bata shoe
company, which has more than 5,000 stores in over 70 countries all around
the globe. He is the only member of the Bata family working at the famous
firm, which his great-grandfather, Tomáš Baťa, founded in the Moravian
town of Zlín at the end of the 19th century. Thomas Archer Bata was born
in Canada and has lived in Switzerland, the UK and South America. So, I
asked him, when did he first visit the Czech Republic?

“So I was probably in my late teens really when I started to appreciate
the art and what it was to make shoes.”

How inevitable was it that you would enter the family business?

“It definitely wasn’t inevitable. Our family puts no pressure on family
members to join the family business – none at all.

“It’s completely up to you and you have to be hired by the company.

“Of course, you have some advantages – it’s not too often they
don’t hire you, but they could give you a pretty small position if they
wanted to, right?

“I got convinced by the CEO at the time. My dad had been CEO a while
earlier and had retired and left the company.

“The CEO who took it over was a lifelong Bata guy. He had started out as
a 16-year-old as a slipper buyer in Italy.

“He had an apprenticeship and worked his way up, travelled the world.

“There were no family members working in the company and he called me one
day.

“I was working in the shoe industry, but at a different company, after
university and he called me and said, Come back, you know this business and
the company needs some family involvement.

“First I was a little hesitant – do I really want to do it? There are
tremendous family pressures of being in a family business.

“But in the end I decided to and I haven’t looked back since.”

“There are about 25 countries where I’d say we’re the number one
brand in the country.”

Today, where are Bata shoes made?

“All over the place, is the short answer.

“I mean, we have production facilities in 23 countries. We also have
sourcing partners in many other countries.

“Of what we sell we manufacture 55 to 60 percent in our own fully owned
factories and the other 40 percent in partner factories.”

Are they still made here in the Czech Republic?

“We have a factory in the Czech Republic, yes. We have a factory in the
Zlín region making specifically leather outdoor shoes.

“But we look at our network as a global supply chain.

“So just because a shoe is made in the Czech Republic doesn’t mean it
will just be sold here. It can be sold anywhere.

“If you go to a Bata store in Prague, for example, you’ll find
Czech-made shoes, you’ll find Indian-made shoes, but we try to make sure
that the standard is indistinguishable wherever it’s made.”

What countries is Bata aimed at? In what markets is Bata relatively
big?

“Our brand is very successful in Asia. India is a huge market for us.

“Funnily enough, Italy is a huge market for us. There’s a Czech
expression, to take wood to the forest, and it’s kind of funny that
we’re teaching the Italians how to make shoes [laughs].

Zlín, photo: Kristýna Maková
“South America’s another big region for us. There are about 25
countries where I’d say we’re the number one brand in the country and
we’re present in about 70 other countries where we’re amongst the top
brands.”

You’ve spent time in South America – did you ever visit the Bata
towns
that were set up there, I know by a member of a different branch of the
Bata family [Jan Antonín Baťa established a number of towns in
Brazil]?

“I lived in Chile and there are two Bata towns in Chile. One is called
Peñaflor and the other one is called
Melipilla. Those ones I knew very well, working there.

“In Brazil there were three towns. They’re not active any more so
they’re quiet towns these days, but I’ve gone and visited them out of
curiosity.

“They’re pretty amazing, I have to say.

“I’ve seen probably the majority of the Bata towns throughout the world
and what is amazing in all of them is that, whether the factory is working
or not any more, the spirit of the people is still there.

“If you go to Peñaflor in Chile, it’s really like going to another
country. You feel like you’re in this kind of European town, not just
from the architecture point of view but also from the culture point of
view.

“The people are slightly different than you would find elsewhere.

“I think that’s good. There’s community responsibility.

“Even in Brazil I saw that. Brazil is not a very clean place and if you
go to these Bata towns they may not be the most affluent places but
everything was organised and clean. You could see there was respect.

“I think Zlín is the same. You see respect. Maybe not everything has
always gone their way but there’s respect for their town, their
community, and I think that’s a great legacy.”